PRINCE Andrew is spending all day “watching TV in a darkish room” like a prisoner at his “crumbling” dwelling.
The revelation comes as King Charles, 75, has redoubled his efforts to evict the disgraced Duke – with insiders branding the stand-off the “siege of Royal Lodge”.
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Andrew has now change into a “prisoner of his personal pleasure” as he refuses to bow to his brother’s needs, a buddy instructed The Occasions.
However that jail is falling aside as Royal Lodge “wants in depth repairs” regarded as about £400,000 a yr.
The stately dwelling sits in Windsor State Park, Berks, a number of miles south of Windsor Fortress.
Andrew, 64, moved in after the loss of life of the Queen Mom in 2002.
The shamed Duke has reportedly already poured £7.5million into repairs however sources say he can’t proceed to satisfy the invoice.
Little or no work has been carried out on the property since Andrew spent £7m on repairs when he moved in.
The Solar reported final yr the house at the moment wants an estimated £2million in repairs with the duke reportedly paying £200,000 for roof repairs.
Current photographs confirmed the Stucco-like exterior of the mansion falling away and mildew rising on it.
The royal, who now not has official duties, shares the sprawling 30-room mansion in Windsor with simply his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Final yr, Andrew and the King clashed when Charles was mentioned to have wished to kick his brother out of his dwelling with courtiers saying Prince William and his household would ultimately transfer into the huge property.
The Solar completely revealed Andrew had rejected the possibility to maneuver into Frogmore Cottage final yr after Harry and Meghan have been served with eviction.
Andrew won’t ever return to public duties after paying tens of millions to settle a intercourse trafficking case linked to Jeffrey Epstein, elevating questions over how he’ll proceed to afford badly wanted repairs.
Regardless of mounting prices, he’s nonetheless refusing to budge – mentioning that he’s in possession of a 75-year lease.
A buddy instructed The Occasions: “It may be executed tidily or untidily. It may be executed with grace and dignity or it may be pressured upon him. It’s all fairly unhappy.
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“However as issues stand, life at Royal Lodge is about to change into more and more chilly and uncomfortable for the duke.
“The one query now’s when he’ll realise that he has change into a prisoner of his personal pleasure – and that handing again the keys will afford him far better consolation, and the continued help of his household.”
It comes as Charles is claimed to be unwilling to maintain paying out of his personal pocket to fund Andy’s lavish way of life.
Sources near the monarch declare he may very well be pressured to “rethink the degrees of help he’s keen to supply” if the so-called siege of Royal Lodge continues.
The disgraced Duke’s police safety was eliminated when he stepped down from public responsibility amid the Epstein scandal.
However Charles stepped in to select up his multi-million kilos non-public safety invoice.
The disaster reveals no signal of going away after Netflix screened its hit drama Scoop detailing Andy’s ‘automotive crash’ Newsnight interview.
And there’s one more depiction of his disgrace in an Amazon collection on his downfall the place Andy is performed by actor Michael Sheen.
‘There isn’t any approach again’
Prince Andrew’s status is broken past restore and he won’t ever be capable to engineer a return to public life, in keeping with one among Britain’s prime PR gurus.
Model and tradition professional Nick Ede, who runs East of Eden PR company, referred to as the shamed royal “deluded” for pondering he may ever return to royal duties and urged him to surrender and ‘take pleasure in his life’ in exile.
It follows the discharge of Scoop – a Netflix film based mostly on the 2019 interview he gave to Newsnight.
Nick mentioned: “There isn’t any approach again for him.
“I feel you already know this perpetual concept that he may nonetheless be again. No person cares. He hasn’t acquired followers.
“There’s no one on the market who’s going ‘We need to see Prince Andrew’, not one single individual. I feel he has to grasp that.
“However I feel it should take a protracted, very long time for him to truly perceive. It’s extremely deluded.
“In my view, one of the best factor that he may do is simply take pleasure in his life. He is acquired attractive daughters. He has an awesome relationship with Fergie, he has a beautiful home.
“Simply reside a quiet life.”
Reflecting on the interview 5 years in the past – the fallout of which noticed Andrew step again from royal duties “for the foreseeable future” – Nick in contrast the fallout to Frost vs Nixon and mentioned he would have urged him to not do it.
He mentioned:Â “If I had been advising him, I’d say, go quiet, be quiet, simply go to floor. You realize you are a prince.
“Benefit from the life that you just lead, however don’t open this may of worms, as a result of that is what it’s.
“There was no admission {that a} relationship with anyone like Epstein was terribly poisonous.
“There was no thought that there have been a great deal of victims of trafficking whose lives have been utterly ruined by Epstein.
“He did not appear to assume that the affiliation he had with that man was something however constructive.
“I feel his worst gaffe was clearly being in that interview and agreeing to it within the first place, for not realising that he is truly going to be interviewed by a really, superb journalist who’s going to ask him questions which he may not like.
“However I feel what this has executed is admittedly proven how archaic Prince Andrew is in his opinions and ideas.
“Learn the room. He is by no means learn a room in any respect.”
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